Paper-fastener.



1 HAWKINS.

PAPER FASTENER.- APPLICATION HLED ocT.5.1911.

1,232,541 Patented July 10, 1917.

J C. HAWKINS, OF NEWTON, IOWA.

PAPER-FASTENER.

Application led October 5, 1911.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, J C. Hawkins, of Newton, in the county of Jasper and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Paper-Fasteners, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to machines or implements of the sort adapted to form a fastening in paper out of the paper itself. More particularly it relates to an improvement in the device by which a tongue cut from the material of the paper may be placed in a position such that it may be drawn through an adjacent slit in the paper. The particular object of my invention is to improve the construction of such device, which I term a tucker, in such wise that it may be positively held Where it will retain the fastening tongue in engagement with the instrument which places it in locking position, to the end that proper placing of the tongue may be insured regardless of the character of the paper and the number of sheets thereof secured by the fastening.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown a paper fastening implement to which my invention is applied, and have illustrated the manner of operation of the invention.

Figure 1 represents a side elevation of the implement.

Figs. 2, 3 and 4c are longitudinal sectional views of the jaws of the implement, showing them in three successive positions, during the operation of making a fastening.

Fig. 5 is a sectional plan view on line 5 5 of Fig. l.

Fig. 6 is a side and edge view of the improved tucker which constitutes the particular feature of the invention.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the figures.

In the drawings, 1 and 2 represent a pair of jaws and 3 and 4 represent handles or levers by which such jaws may be moved together and apart. Such an implement or machine is one of many in which the present invention may be incorporated, and is shown here for the sole purpose of illustration, and

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented July 10, 1917.

Serial No. 652,957.

not as being in any sense a limitation of the invention to any particular form of implement or machine.

Carried by the jaw l are a tongue cutter 5, a slitter or piercing knife 6, and a tongue bender or tucker 7. The cutter projects toward the jaw 2 and has a cutting edge 8 on its end, which edge has approkimately the form of the letter U. The function of this cutter is to form a tongue in the paper, which tongue is united to they paper at its base. The function of the slitter 6 is to form a slit in the paper near the base of the tongue and to draw the tip of the tongue through this slit. The latter operation is accomplished by an eye 9 formed in the slitter, into which the end of the tongue is tucked. It is the function of the tucker to bend back the tongue and place its end in the eye.

Forming a part of the jaw 2 is a table or platen 10 which has an opening l1 formed with edges which closely embrace the cutting edges of the cutter 5, such edges coperating with the edges 8 of the cutter to shear the paper. The opening in the table 10 extends beyond the slitter, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

Mounted over the table 10 is a gripper and stripper 12 formed as a spring plate which is pressed by its resilience toward the table 10 and clamps the sheets of paper 13 against the latter. When the cutter 5 and slitter 6 are withdrawn from the paper, the plate l2 acts to strip the paper therefrom. Such plate accordingly has an opening 14 sufficiently large to receive the cutter 5 freely and another' opening 15 to receive the slitter 6. The material cut out of the openl ing 14 .is turned back as a tongue' 16 having a particular function, as will presently appear.

The tucker 7 is pivoted to a pin 17 in the jaw 1, and has a free end 18, which is its operative portion, extending toward the end of the tongue cutter, and contained in the place bounded by the cutting edges thereof. In its intermediate part the tucker has a cam surface 19 and a notch 20. The notch is between the cam surface and the pivot of the tucker. The portion of the tucker on which the cam surface is formed projects through a slot 21 in the frontor outer side of the cutter. It is so placed that when the jaws are moved together it engages a cam abutment 22 formed on the plate 12 by the forward edge of the opening 14 therein.

In operation the sheets to be joined are placed in the space between the table 10 and the plate 12. The jaws l and 2 are then moved relatively together', whereupon the cutter 5 and slitter 6 penetrate the paper forming respectively a tongue and a slit, and carrying` the eye of the .slitter through the paper. Duringthis operation the free end of th-e tucker bends down the tongue formed in the paper,as shown in Fig. 2, where the tongue is represented by 2? Further movement of the jaws together causes the cam surface' of the tucker to bear Vagainst the abutment 22, whereby the tucker is brought into the position shown in Fig. 3, so that it passes the end of the paper tongue through the eye of thc slitter. During` the last part of the approach of the jaws, and while the tongue is being placed in the` eye, the abutment 22 enters the notch 20. In this positionof the tucker the side of the notch is approximately parallel to thevdirection of movement of the jaws. Then the tucker is locked and permits movement of the jaws to take place through a limited distance, without being itself permitted to move about its pivot. /hile the t'ucker is thus locked, the jaws may separate far enough to enable the tongue to be engaged and held by the outer boundary of the eye 9. Until the tongue is thus caught, it is prevented from springing back out of the eye by reason of the fact that the side of the notch 2t) is engaged with the abutment 22 and the tucker locked in the position in which it holdsI the tongue in the eye. I have :found in experience with machines of this general character, but having other kinds of y tuclers, that where many sheets are fastened together, or where the paper is still and springy, there is a tendency for the paper to spring back out of the eye and to retract the tucker with it, thereby preventing the fastening from being` properly formed. This diliiculty is obviated by my invention, because owing` to the lock above described, this springing back of the tongue is wholly prevented.

ln using the term Cnotch" in the foregoing description l have not intended to introduce a term of limitation. The notch simplyprovides a surface or edge which has the function of holding the tucker locked during a limited amount of motion of the j aws, and any form of surface which secures the same end, whether provided by cutting a notch in the edge of the tucker, or by otherwise forming a locking surface, is within the spirit and scope of the invention. It is only necessary that a part of the surface of the tucker which engages the abutment should be approximately parallel to the direction of motion of the jaws, when the tucker is in its extreme position and the jaws are most nearly together.

At the base of the metal tongue 16 which, as previously described, is turned up from the plate 12, is a shoulder or abutment 2e which engages the edge 25 of the tucker op posite to the cam 22 when the jaws separate, and returns the tucker to Aits normal position with its end in the space bounded by the cutting edges of the tongue cutter. When the jaws approach one another, the end 18 of the tucker passes between the abutments 22 and 24E, and the tongue 16 compels it to do so.

Preferably the tucker is made as a stamping from sufficiently strong ysheet metal, whereby it may be made at very slight expense. It is of greater width than thickness, whereby its maximum stiffness and. strength are in the plane of its movement about its pivot andalso in the plane in which it acts. Its stiffness is thus disposed in the most etiicient manner to resist distortion and to compel the tongue of paper to enter and remain in the eye of the slitter.

l claim,-

1. A Iper-fastening machine comprising a cutter, a slitter having an eye, a tucker having a cam surface and a locking surface, ajiLW or carrier by which said cutteigfslittei', and tucker are carried, and an abutment adapted to engage first the cam surface of the tucker Ato move the same, and then the locking surface to retain the tucker against return movement, said locking surface being parallel to the direction of relative move.- ment between the carrier and the abutment when thus in engagement with the abutment, whereby the tucker is held stationary relatively to the slitter during the commencement of withdrawing movement of the slitter.

2. In a paper fastener, a tuclzer, a cutter' adapted to form a tongue in paper, a slitter arranged to penetrate the paper adjacent to the base of said tongue and having an eye, and an abutment adapted to engage the tucler, the tucker having ay cam surface engageable by said abutment, whereby it is moved toward the slitter to place the end of the paper tongue in the eye thereof, and havl together, a tucker shaped cutting edges, and a slitter having an eye carried by one of the members, projecting toward the other and adapted to penetrate the paper when the members move on one of the members and an abutment on the other member, said tucker being movably mounted with its operative portion in the space bounded by the edges of the cutter and having a cam portion adapted to engage the abutment and cause the operative portion of the tucker to move toward the eye of the slitter, vthe tucker having also a locking surface approximately parallel with the line of movement of the members when the tucker is in its extreme position, for locking the tucker in this position during the commencement of the separating movement of the members.

4. In a machine of the character described, a tongue cutter of U-shape in cross section, having a cutting edge at its end and an opening at its central bend back from its edge, a slitter located near the open side of the tongue cutter and having an eye, a complemental die member arranged to cooperate with the tongue cutter to form a tongue 1n interposed paper sheets and being relatively movable toward and from the tongue cutter and the slitter, a tucker pivotally mounted between the sides of the tongue cutter and having a cam surface and a locking portion projecting through the opening in the cutter, the locking portion being at that end of the cam surface nearest to the pivot of the tucker, and an abutment movable with the die member arranged to engage the said cam surface to throw the tucker toward the slitter when the cutter and die member are brought together, and the locking portion being parallel to the line of relative motion between the cutter and die member when the tucker is thus thrown toward the slitter.

5. A papel' fastening machine, comprising a cutter, a slitter having an eye, a tucker, a support for paper to be operated upon, means for passing the cutter, slitter, and tucker through the paper to form a tongue and a slit therein adjacent to the base of such tongue and to bend up the tongue, and means for shifting the tucker toward the slitter to place the end of such tongue in the eye of the slitter, said tucker having a locking portion arranged to hold the same in fixed relation to the slitter during the commencement of retractive movement thereof to prevent escape of the tongue from the slitter eye.

6. A paper fastening machine comprising cooperating tongue cutting shear members relatively movable toward and from one another, a slitter operatively connected to one of said members in position to penetrate the paper adjacent to the base of the tongue cut therein by said members, and having an eye,

a tucker independent of said shear members and movable relatively thereto arranged vto bend up the paper tongue subsequently to the formation thereof by the shear members, and means for moving said tucker toward the slitter to place the tip of the paper tongue in the eye of the slitter, said tucker and means being constructed to hold the tucker stationary with respect to the slitter during the last part of the cutting movement and the rst part of the return movement of the slitter.

7 A paper-fastening machine comprising a tongue cutter, a complemental die, said cutter and die being movable relatively together and apart to cooperate in forming a tongue from paper, a slitter movable with the cutter to slit the paper, and having an eye, a tucker, means acting simultaneously with the movement of the cutter and die to move said tucker so Ias to place the end of a tongue in said eye, and means for locking the tucker in tucking position during a part of such movement.

8. In a paper fastener, the combination of a cutting knife shaped to form a tongue from the paper, a slitting knife adjacent to said cutting knife and adapted to slit the paper near the base of the tongue, said slitting knife being provided with an eye near its slitting edge, a folder separate from said knives and pivotally mounted between them, said folder being movable toward the eye of said slitting knife to fold the paper tongue backward, and means for so moving the folder after the knives have penetrated the paper, said means and the folder being cooperatively constructed to insure positive action of the folder on the paper tongue when said folder is at the limit of its folding movement and the knives commence their retractive movement.

9. A paper fastening machine comprising a movable carrier member, a tongue cutter, a slitter, and a tucker or folder, all mounted on said carrier member, said slitter being mounted adjacent to the base of the tongue outline formed by the tongue cutter and having an eye, and the folder being pivotally movable from within the tongue cutter toward said eye and having a cam surface eccentric to its pivotal axis, and on the side thereof away from the slitter, a paper support and die complemental to said carrier member, and an abutment arranged across the path in which said cam surface is transported by the movement of the carrier, whereby the folder in the operation of the machine, is displaced toward the slitter and caused to bend up the cut tongue and place the tip thereof in said eye, said cam surface being so limited as to limit such displacement of the folder to a point short of the entrance of the folder into said eye, and

seid member is near and at the end of its operative movement.

In testimony whereof I have a'HXed my signature, in presence of two Witnesses.

J C. HAWKINS.

Vitnesses FERN STEPHENSON, HELEN CONN.

'Copies of this patent maybe obtained jfor veg'cents each, by addressng'the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

